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TPACK

Now I don’t profess to be a math whiz, so there are plenty of articles and content I come across that I don’t fully understand. Surprise, right?

Punya Mishra’s article, “The Seven Trans-Disciplinary Habits of Mind: Extending the TPACK Framework Towards 21st Century Learning,” looks at seven cognitive skills necessary for cross-disciplinary learning that fits within the framework of TPACK. I’ll have to post more on this article later, but in the first skill — Perceiving — Mishra mentions Nikki Graziano’s Found Functions project. This is part of the Archi Ninja blog. In her project, she combines photography and math. This goes beyond the math in zoom and lens aperture. Her function overlays show math found in the real world. Some of the links on the page are broken, but the imagery and functions combine for a stunning use of math.

Ok, so we’re not all photography enthusiasts, but this sheds light on the fact that math is a part of our everyday lives, whether we notice or not. Students who hate math but love art, take note. Models and formulas make art, game design, architecture, and so much more. Cross-disciplinary learning like this could help learners expand their horizons. Students who love math could find more applications for it, and those who would rather eat raw broccoli for 32 (I tried) than find the slope of a line could find beauty and creativity in how math shapes our world (or is the other way around?).

Learning isn’t about isolated events and silos of knowledge. It’s about how it all comes together. How knowledge influences events and vice versa. Upper level math may have new life breathed into it. If anyone has an example of this type of learning, please share!